The Time Professor
by Ray Cummings
Professor Waning Glory takes his new friend Tubby on a trip in a boat that stays always
at 9 p.m. in a lofty time-river of some sort, starting at Coney Island, then
Chicago, then Denver, and farther west. The professor is able to briefly stop the boat
above Chicago, where time for those below stays frozen at 9 p.m., and when their
boat crosses the 180° meridian, they travel back a day. Eventually, they arrive back at
their starting point on Coney Island, where it is still 9 p.m.
— Michael Main
Time is what keeps everything from happening at once.
“The Time Professor” by Ray Cummings, in Argosy,
1 January 1921.